introduction 1 : contents - luton culture · pdf filemillion air raid shelters were built and...

About This Pack

The information in this pack was originally collected to provide a resource for Luton’s teachers and childrento help them understand what their town and its people went through during the Second World War. However,much of the material in this pack is available nowhere else and is, therefore, of interest to a wider audience.

Front cover photograph: Covering Luton Town Football Ground with camouflage netting.

Contents

Luton Museum Service • Lifelong Learning • Luton Borough Council

© Luton Cultural Services Trust revised 2011 1

Introduction1 : Contents

Introduction

1 : Contents 12 : World War II in Brief 23 : Evacuation in Luton 74 : Luton’s War Effort 95 : Rationing 136 : Air Raids 18

Maps & Documents

7 : Luton’s Blitz 198 : Invasion Instructions Leaflet 339 : Civil Defence Information Leaflet 3510 : Food Facts 3911 : Warship Week Programme 4012 : Wings For Victory Week Cartoon 4313 : Salute The Soldier Programme 4414 : War Weapons Week Leaflet 4515 : Acknowledgements 46

World War II in Brief

After the First World War Germany was in a bad economic state and confidence in the future was at a lowebb. The people needed a strong, dynamic leader who could boost their morale and promise them better things.Adolf Hitler was a man who was able to make passionate, rousing speeches full of visions of a new powerfulGermany - people wanted to believe he was the person who could achieve this for them so they supported him.Hitler blamed Germany's troubles on the Jews, the Communists and the Socialists. He developed an intensehatred of Jews, seeing a Jewish conspiracy all around him and becoming a fanatical anti-Semite. He believedthe Germans to be the 'Master Race' of pure German stock with himself at its head. By 1934, after abolishingall other political parties, Hitler was the leader of the German National Socialist Party - known as the NaziParty - and Chancellor of Germany. The Nazi state, called the Third Reich, was created; there was no freespeech and leading politicians from other parties were arrested and detained in concentration camps, wheremany of them were assassinated.Germany built up a strong army and began to threaten and invade the countries around it - Hitler wanted tobuild an empire in Europe and began in 1938 by invading Austria, followed by part of Czechoslovakia. TheBritish Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, met Hitler in September 1938 and told him that if he promisedlasting peace, he could keep the Czechoslovakian territory. However this did not work as Hitler took the restof Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. France and Britain took immediateaction and said that German troops must be withdrawn from Poland; if this was not done, war would be declared.Hitler refused and on 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany. In the days that followed first Franceand then Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India also declared war on Germany. This was the beginningof the Second World War which lasted until 1945 and was fought over much of Europe and Asia. There wereno land battles in Britain but air battles and bombing were widespread causing great loss of life and enormousdamage to buildings.

Aftermath of a Luton air raid

Introduction

© Luton Cultural Services Trust revised 20112

2 : World War II in Brief

However, this did not happen immediately. It was not until April 1940 that German troops attacked andconquered Norway, then Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. By 20th May they had reached theEnglish Channel and more than 500,000 British and French troops were trapped at Dunkirk. Boats sailed outfrom Britain and rescued nearly 340,000 of them but they left behind many tanks and guns. By 17th JuneGermany had taken most of France which then surrendered. Most of North West Europe was now in Hitler'shands and he began to plan the invasion of Britain.Hitler thought this would be easy and Britain stood alone with scarcely anyone to help. The United States ofAmerica had not yet entered the war and countries such as Canada and Australia were too far away. Hitler'splan to conquer Britain was called 'Operation Sealion'. First he had to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) sothat they could not bomb the German Army as they advanced across the Channel. This proved to be moredifficult than he had thought. British and German planes fought in the skies over southern England from Julyto September 1940 - this became known as 'The Battle of Britain'. German losses were far greater than theyhad expected so Hitler changed his plan to send the army to invade and the German airforce, known as the'Luftwaffe', would bomb Britain, especially London until it surrendered.This intensive bombing began in September 1940 and became known as the 'Blitz'. There was a series of enemyraids over Britain for the next four and a half years on 26 major cities. London was bombed every night forover two months. By the end of the war 60,000 people had been killed, half a million homes destroyed andfour million damaged, including Buckingham Palace. Germany's bombing targeted airfields and factories,warehouses and ships at the docks thus destroying weapons, foodstuffs and other vital goods. Nearly twomillion air raid shelters were built and in case of attacks from poison gas, everyone had to carry a gas maskat all times although the gas attacks did not happen in the end. After dark all windows and doors had to beblacked out so that German bombers would find it difficult to locate their targets.

Air raid practice at Denbigh RoadSchool. Each child has a gas mask.


Introduction2 : World War II in Brief

The War spread to Asia, the Mediterranean and North Africa in 1940 when Italy, then Japan, allied withGermany. In December 1941 the Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbour navy base in Hawaii, bringing the USAinto the war on Britain's side and soon American troops appeared at bases throughout Britain. Over 1 millionUS troops came to Britain, soon joined by Canadians.From February 1942 systematic area bombing of German cities was carried out in an attempt by the Britishto disrupt industrial production and morale. 1942 also saw the beginning of Hitler's plans to exterminate theJewish people, which was known as the 'Final Solution'. They were rounded up together with Gypsies, disabledpeople, homosexuals, people with mental illness and others, then transported to concentration camps in Germanyand Poland. By the end of the War 6 million people had been murdered in these camps. By the end of 1942however, Germany was playing a defensive role in the War, having been defeated at El Alamein in Egypt andby Allied landings in North Africa. It looked at last as though British efforts both at home and overseas werebeginning to pay off.During early 1944 British, American and Canadian troops were part of the plan to carry out the invasion ofFrance, driving out the occupying German army. This operation became known as the D Day invasion andbegan on 6 June 1944. After a month of desperate fighting they broke through the German lines. The Alliedforces marched into Germany in February 1945 and soon captured most airfields and rocket sites. On 30 AprilAdolf Hitler committed suicide. The war ended in May when the Germans surrendered. Celebrations were heldthroughout Britain on 8 May called VE Day - Victory in Europe. The War in the Far East continued untilAugust when Japan surrendered. There were two atomic bombs dropped in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasakiresulting in devastating loss of life.

Collecting scrap metal for the wareffort in 1941.



The Second World War affected the lives of every British citizen to some extent. Families were separated bymen going overseas, some of them killed in action or taken prisoner, children were evacuated from large citiesto the safer areas of the countryside, women did jobs that were previously thought of as only suitable for men.There were severe shortages of food, clothes and raw materials and much had to be rationed. Life was hardand drab and no one knew when the War would end. Morale had to be kept up. Winston Churchill was electedas Prime Minister in May 1940 and the speeches he made at various crucial points during the War did muchto give the impression that the British people would never give in to tyranny and could rise above setbacksand disappointments to win through in the end. "We will never surrender" he said.During the War, large towns and cities in Britain, as well as Germany and other countries, were bombed byenemy aircraft. Many city children went to live in the safety of the countryside, other towns or overseas. Thiswas called evacuation and the children who were evacuated were called evacuees. This evacuation of childrenhad been planned long before the War actually started. Whole schools were evacuated together with theirteachers in charge. Children did not have to go but their parents were told it was for the best. Children youngerthan five years old went with their mothers. Brothers and sisters were kept together if at all possible. Pregnantwomen and disabled people were also evacuated.Children and their teachers travelled by train and often did not know their destination; they were told of thearrangements at very short notice and said goodbye to their parents in the school playground or at the railwaystation. 3.5 million children were evacuated from 1st September 1939; many children came from the slumsof London, they had few clothes and were often dirty and unwell.Many children went to live with grandparents or relatives in the country but others stayed with people theyhad never met. Families in the country were asked to take one or two children, sometimes more, according tothe available space they had in their homes to accommodate them. This was called billeting. Children arrivedat the railway station, taken by bus to a school or church hall and chosen by foster parents.

Covering Luton Town football groundwith camouflage netting.



Some of the farmers would choose the biggest, strongest looking boys first to help on their farm whilst somewomen chose strong looking girls to do housework. It was obviously more difficult to place a mother andperhaps two or more very small children in the same home. Children did not necessarily stay in the same placebut were moved quite frequently from one home to the next. Some children had a dreadful time and were badlytreated and some used as slave labour. However, others enjoyed new found friends, a different way of life andexperiences they would never have had otherwise.Many adults today who were evacuees have fond memories of a happy time and some looked on their fosterhomes as their extended family. Lots of children did not stay evacuees for long and within weeks many ofthem returned to the city because they were so homesick. Also although bombing had been expected to startimmediately, nothing happened until the following spring and many children returned to the cities. By the endof 1939 only 63% of the children who had been evacuated were actually still away from home. Air attacksbegan in earnest in the summer of 1940 and children were moved again to safer places than their initialdestinations.The foster families were paid a small allowance for having evacuees but it had to be increased. The moneywas to pay for food and clothes but parents tried to send additional items as well. Parents could visit theirchildren in the country but it was much more difficult than it would be today; very few people owned a carand even if you had one, no petrol was available to run it. Train services were disrupted because of bombing,the blackout and the need to conserve fuel. Very few people had telephones; children could write letters homebut as there was a shortage of paper, they were discouraged from using precious notepaper and envelopes. Insome cases any letters were read through by foster parents before posting. Evacuated children still had to goto school. The evacuated school would often share school buildings with the local school; having lessons oneday and the next day off, perhaps having games in the park or walks in the country.

People dancing in Luton town centre,celebrating VE Day, 8th May 1945.



Evacuation in Luton

In January 1939 a survey of households in Luton decided that there were 22,000 surplus rooms which couldbe used to billet evacuees. Although only 30 miles from London, Luton was considered safe and suitable forthe reception and billeting of evacuees from more dangerous areas. Luton received its first evacuees fromLondon on Friday 1st September 1939, war was declared 2 days later on the 3rd. During the first three daysof evacuation, 1-3 September 1939, 25,866 evacuees were expected to arrive in Luton; 22,000 were to be billeted in Luton while the rest were to go Dunstable and surrounding villages.On the first day 27 school parties had been billeted - a total of 4,887 children and 548 teachers. On the second,expectant mothers and mothers with small children arrived. The expectant mothers were billeted by Beech HillSchool so they would be close to the hospital. Over 200 blind people also arrived that day. By the end of thethird day a total of 12,285 evacuees had passed through Dunstable Road school, less than expected. 8,091 ofthese were billeted in Luton.Appeals for donations of food, clothing, furniture and items like prams and pushchairs were made through thelocal newspapers. A press cutting from the Luton News about these first evacuee families is included in thispack. However by 21st September 1939 over half the mothers and children had returned home, unable to settlewithout husbands and neighbours and feeling that London was as safe, if not safer, than Luton.The evacuated schools remained in Luton sharing school buildings with Luton Schools or working in churchhalls and libraries. Schools even held classes in the Museum at Wardown Park. This situation did not pleaseLuton parents. Many felt that their children were losing out and letters of complaint and concern were writtento the local newspapers.

Evacuees arriving in Luton. Thisphotograph was taken in StationRoad, outside the railway station.


3 : Evacuation in LutonIntroduction

However, Hitler seemed not to have known that Luton had been designated a safe area. In 1940 Luton got itsshare of the blitz, not unsurprising considering the town's industrial capacity had been switched to the wareffort producing military machines and munitions.This may have had something to do with the fact that by the end of the war there were only 200 official evacueesleft in Luton. A few of these had been here from the beginning and most had been evacuated more than once.

Streams of evacuees and a line ofbuses in Station Road.

Evacuee children with their gasmasks and belongings.


3 : Evacuation in LutonIntroduction

War work at Skefco ball bearingsfactory.

Luton’s War Effort

Air raid precautions in Luton began in 1938 when gas masks were issued to schoolchildren and work beganon air raid shelters. Deep tunnels were constructed in four areas, Upper George Street, Albert Road, High Townand Beech Hill, the latter two being the deepest. Underground shelters were built in school playgrounds and10,000 Anderson shelters were supplied for gardens. The indoor Morrison shelters came later in the war. In1940 children often did their lessons in air raid shelters as air raids were very frequent. There were 900 air raidwarnings in Luton during the war. Some Luton families got used to sleeping in shelters but most stayed in theirbeds and took a risk.The Civil Defence Service recruited Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Wardens; the Service was divided into 84sectors and 650 wardens were needed. The bigger companies and public utilities made their own ARParrangements. Wardens’ duties included firewatching, sheltering people from bombs, rescuing the injured andrecovering the dead, enforcing blackout regulations, housing the homeless, clearing up the mess and generallykeeping the life of the town functioning. Every adult male had to take his turn at firewatching.There was a blackout throughout Luton and prominent buildings and factories were camouflaged to obscurethem from the air. There were fourteen air raid sirens in the town operated from a central control. Smokescreens were made on clear nights which hid the town in a thick smoky mist. For several nights in successionthe fires in London from air raids could be seen clearly from the higher parts of the town. Luton was a militaryobjective, various factories were geared to war production, each factory specialised in some product relatedto its peacetime trade.


4 : Luton’s War EffortIntroduction

The British Expeditionary Force lost practically all its equipment in France at the time of Dunkirk in June 1940and thousands of Luton-made Bedfords and Commers had to be abandoned there. Blockmakers made woodworkfor aeroplanes. Every available woman was put onto the production of war material. 22,000 women and 10,000men were registered. Women played a very important part in Luton’s war production. The manager of LutonEmployment Exchange during the war said in 1945: “The women workers of Luton have undoubtedly performeda marvellous job. I pay tribute to them and particularly the married women who had to look after their homesin addition to working in the factories. They were a big factor in winning the war.”There were restrictions on imports of materials for hats, the trade lost many men to the armed services andwomen to other industries. The Authorities wanted to release a further 25% of the women who remained inthe hat trade - they said hats were a luxury and could surrender a lot of its young women. However, the tradekept going and in the end turned to producing caps and hats for the WRNS, WAAF and ATS, tropical hatsand helmets. There were also many women released from offices, shops and domestic service into war work.By the end of 1941 all workers were subject to ‘direction of work’ to be sent where they were most needed.In December 1941 the National Service Act rendered single women liable for the first time to be conscriptedfor the Women’s Services.Churchill said “Give us the tools and we will finish the job”. Luton factories were turning out these tools andthe town became one of Britain’s huge arsenals. Luton factories were producing items not normally made inLuton from Churchill tanks to ships’ bells, shells, mines, grenades, rockets and fuses, depth charges for UBoats, Mosquito jets, Sabres, parachute tapes, photographic film, chemicals and concentrated foods.

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall’s workforce grew to 12,000. The firm built the 38 ton Churchill tank, which became a very successfuloffensive weapon, as well as steel helmets and six-pounder armour-piercing shells - these produced at the rateof 5,000 a week. Winston Churchill and the King, among others, came to Luton to visit Vauxhall. In all 5,247Churchill tanks were delivered, many of which came back to the Luton plant for repairs after damage on thebattlefield. Vauxhall was also involved in the development of the first jet engines to be built in Britain. A thirdof trucks supplied to the Forces were Bedford trucks - during the six years of the war nearly a quarter of amillion trucks were made. Special ramps were built in Wardown Park to test vehicles.

Hayward Tyler

Hayward Tyler made steam engines for Admiralty barges, milling machines for Ministry of Supply, gun partsand breech mechanisms for the Admiralty. They also built turrets for Churchill tanks and cast and suppliedengine sumps & pumps for oil tankers. For the first time in the history of the company women were employed.

George Kent

Among a huge variety of items made were pyrometers for controlling temperature for heat treatment of engineparts, shell casings, clear view screens for warships and rescue launches, fuel supply meters, steering gears,shell fuses, anti-aircraft predictors, cannon shells. The fuse shop was staffed almost entirely by women.

Davis Gas Stove Co.

Davis had 100% war production and made 25-pounder shells, shell cases & shells, ammunition boxes, mortarbombs, land mines, anti-tank, grenades, vehicle track links, tails for rockets and insulated food containers tobe dropped to troops.



Electrolux

Electrolux supplied Royal Navy depth charges, mine charge cases, insulated containers for food and alsoproduced over a million high explosive and incendiary bombs.

Skefko Ball Bearings

Skefko produced ball, roller and thrust bearings for aero engines, tanks and gun mountings, predictors andradar. The Luftwaffe had a map of the Skefko factory but only slight bomb damage was done to the extremeend of the building. To confuse the German bombers a dummy road with trees on it was built on the roof atSkefko.

Percival Aircraft

Percival’s built aeroplanes which were used for wireless and navigation training and twin-engined Oxfordsfor advanced flying training. They also built the Mosquito B Mark XVI - the fastest bomber in the world. Lutonbuilt the Mosquitoes planes which bombed Germany. A third of employees were women.

Brown & Green Ltd.

This firm usually made laundry machinery but during the War production changed to mortar bombs, shrapnelmines, catapult & rocket firing equipment.

Staff at Skefco with pictures of thetanks which used their ball bearings.



Luton’s War Effort - War Savings

Fighting the war was extremely costly and the Government encouraged people to contribute by buying WarBonds. War savings in Luton reached £15,255,321 from January 1940 to November 1945. Only part of thiswas saved by the ordinary people of Luton as contributions from banks, insurance companies and large localfirms were counted in the total. The highlights of the savings campaign were the Special Weeks when Lutonjoined with Dunstable and Luton Rural District to raise a million pounds in a single week. Each week surpassedthe total and, with the exception of Thanksgiving week, the savings of ordinary people in the district accountedfor half of the total raised. To encourage savers there were spectacular displays and often a competitive elementwith challenges from other towns, such as Watford in 1942. War Weapons Week raised enough money to buytwo large destroyers and one small one.

1941 War Weapons Week raised £1,420,4231942 Warship Week raised £1,421,7141943 Wings For Victory Week raised £1,442,2991944 Salute The Soldier Week raised £1,522,6351945 Thanksgiving Week raised £1,084,757

Saving was also encouraged all year round by the formation of savings groups and by July 1940 there werenearly 250 in Luton with the number growing fast. School groups did particularly well and later on groupsof people living in the same street were formed with great success.

Luton’s Home Guard

In May 1940 Anthony Eden broadcast on the wireless asking for Local Defence Volunteers to act as an unpaidarmy. Two million people responded to the call, 60 people in Luton enrolled the first night and by the nextday that number had risen to 1,000. Later on the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) became known as the HomeGuard.The town and its outskirts were surveyed, divided into four areas and a leader chosen for each. Some of thelarger organisation such as the Railways, Bus Company and the Post Office had their own Home Guardbattalions. The Home Guard was part of the Army and was initially dependant upon volunteers although laterthere was some conscription. Throughout the war, however, the Home Guard was unpaid.Luton was patrolled day and night and the shifts were four hours on, four hours off. Headquarters at first was4 Dunstable Road, later HQ moved to the Drill Hall on Old Bedford Road. Defence positions were constructed,trenches dug and roadblocks built. Various strongpoints on approaches to Luton had to be manned, slit trenchesdug and anti-tank obstacles erected. Battle training and night exercises in open country were frequent. Soonthe Battalion reached the unwieldy number of 4,000 and was divided into several smaller battalions. At theDrill Hall men were drilled out of doors as well as indoors, gun drill was taken on the lawn where the bandalso practiced To the rear of the hall was a pigeon loft which local pigeon fanciers maintained what was claimedto be the best Home Guard pigeon loft in the country. The Home Guard had ceremonial parades and weekendcamps. The order was given to ‘stand down’ towards the end of 1944 but was then rescinded and it was notuntil December 1945 that the Home Guard was finally disbanded. The television series “Dad’s Army” is saidto reflect - albeit dramatically - many aspects of the Home Guard.



Rationing

The sea was a natural barrier for the British against the Germans but it also caused problems because Britainimported a lot of food and other goods all transported by sea. During the Second World War German submarines- called U-boats - sank many ships bringing supplies to Britain which meant that there was a shortage ofeverything, especially food. Between March and May 1941 more than 320 British merchant ships carryingfood supplies were sunk. The docks in London and those in other large ports were regularly bombed, destroyinggoods stored in the warehouses. Instead of storage at the docks, goods began to be distributed to areas throughoutthe country which were called buffer zones.In the late 1930s when war in Europe seemed inevitable, the Government planned a new department calledthe Ministry of Food. This was set up in 1937 and headed by Lord Woolton, who later introduced food rationingto make sure that the food available was equally and fairly apportioned. Rationing was a drastic but necessarywartime measure. The Government controlled prices so shops could not charge higher prices for goods.Food rationing started in 1940 and everyone was issued with a ration book containing coupons which werecut out by the shopkeeper when goods were bought. The first to be rationed were bacon, ham, sugar and butterfollowed two months later by meat and, at various intervals throughout the war, tea, margarine, cooking fat,cheese, jam, marmalade, treacle, syrup and sweets. The distribution of eggs and milk was controlled. Strangelyit was only after the war in 1946 that bread was rationed. The average weekly ration was:

3 pints of milk 8 oz sugar 2 oz butter 4 oz margarine3 oz cooking fat 3 oz cheese 4 oz bacon 1s.2d worth meat1 egg 2 oz sweets 2 oz jam 2 oz tea1 pkt dried eggs (per month)

Special arrangements were made for babies, young children and expectant and nursing mothers - they wereallowed extra milk, cod liver oil and orange juice. In fact many poor undernourished children were better fedduring the war than before it. However it wasn't only these children who benefited from a better diet - theGovernment took the opportunity to teach the nation about eating healthily. In 1939 at least half the peopleof Britain were suffering from some degree of malnutrition but by the end of the war health had improvedenormously. The Government's campaign was very successful.The general public were bombarded with help and guidance in magazines, cinemas and on the radio. Everymorning at 8 am there was a 5 minute slot called the Kitchen Front from the Radio Doctor, Dr Charles Hill.He was the Conservative MP for Luton from 1950 to 1963 when he became Lord Hill of Luton.As the choice of food was limited, more food had to be grown in Britain by the farmers and the general public"by the little man with the spade as much as the big man with the plough". Encouragement was given to eatthe kind of food that Britain could produce without depending on overseas imports. As Luton was in anagricultural area fruit and vegetables were generally available but oranges and bananas were almost unobtainable."Dig For Victory" the posters proclaimed, "Dig Now, Don't Delay", "Victory may well be won by the countrywith the most food" and "Food is your Munition of War".Parks, village greens, the edges of cricket and football pitches, window boxes, air raid shelter roofs and evenroadside verges were used to grow fruit and vegetables. Part of the grounds of the Tower of London was turnedinto an allotment. By 1943 there were one-and-a-half million allotments in Britain. The potato, carrot andcabbage were dubbed the 'Home Guards of Health' by the Ministry of Food. Cartoon characters called PotatoPete and Dr Carrot were invented probably because either carrot, potato or both turned up in every wartimerecipe. The carrot's reputation of enabling you to see in the dark seems to have begun during the war - veryuseful in the blackout!


5 : RationingIntroduction

Many people kept chickens in their gardens to provide them with eggs; some people kept rabbits for the meatand even used the fur to make winter gloves. Pigs were also kept, sometimes families or streets would sharea pig, feeding it on their scraps and sharing out the meat when it was slaughtered. Everything had to be used,nothing wasted; beetroot tops, elderflowers, dandelion leaves, nettles, ferns and marigolds were all eaten. Mostpeople did not own a fridge or freezer so food had to be bought fresh daily. Sometimes a delivery of a scarcefood would be expected and queues would form to buy the goods - housewives during the war spent hoursqueuing. Fish was not rationed but in Luton the fishmongers rarely opened before lunchtime as the fish hadto be brought from the coast.Rationing was not confined to food. Clothes rationing began in 1941. People in the forces were given uniformsbut for everybody else Utility clothing was introduced. This was very plain and used as little material aspossible. Clothing had to be looked after and children's clothes were often made out of the best parts of oldadult clothes. The public were told to 'Make Do and Mend'. Sixty six clothing coupons (later reduced to fortyeight) were issued to every person for the year and sheets and towels were included as well. A man's jacketrequired thirteen coupons, a shirt five and a tie one. A woman's dress took up eleven coupons, shoes five.Women's skirts became shorter so they didn't use up so much material, there were also no turn-ups on men'strousers. Utility furniture was introduced in 1942; it was very simple and basic and available to those who hadbeen bombed out or who were setting up home for the first time. It also included electrical appliances andcarpets.The end of the war did not mean the end of rationing, it dragged on until as late as 1954. Bread, having beenthe last food to be rationed, was the first to come off in 1948 followed in the early 1950s by jam, tea, sweets,cream, eggs, sugar, butter, cheese, margarine and cooking fats, then finally meat in June 1954 - fourteen yearssince rationing had first started. Rationing, however, had been highly successful. It had been shown that withan enormous combined effort, Britain could almost become a totally self-sufficient nation; and, due to rationing,it was also a much healthier nation than ever before. Lord Woolton's morale-boosting had done its job:"The whole nation marches to victory on its stomach. The woman in the home kitchen is doing equally usefulwork as any woman in khaki or blue" he pronounced.

Girls from Surrey Street Schooldigging their allotment. It is estimatedthat Luton people grew enoughvegetables for 16 million meals.



War Time Rations

Rations varied during the war. Coupons from the ration books were removed when the food was purchased.In addition to the ration each person was allowed sixteen points per month. Points could be exchanged fortinned meat, fish or fruit, dried fruit or dried peas and beans.

Milk the weekly ration was three pints (1.7l) although expectant and nursing mothersand small children were entitled to extra. By 1941 dried milk was rationed toa tin every four weeks.

Sugar 8oz (200g) per week was for cooking and jam-making. Most people stoppedputting it into tea and coffee. Sometimes extra sugar was made available forjam making and special sugar coupons were issued.

Butter 2oz (50g) per week

Margarine 4oz (100g) per week

Cooking fat 4oz (100g) this dropped as low as 2oz at times. Every last drop was used anddripping, collected from cooking meat, was used to supplement the ration.

Cheese 2oz (50g) sometimes this rose to 4oz. Vegetarians got extra cheese becausethey did not have the meat.

Eggs normally one fresh egg a week but sometimes only one every two weeks. Driedeggs were used to supplement this. One packet of dried eggs, equivalent oftwelve eggs, every 4 weeks.

Sweets 12oz (300g) every four weeks

Preserves 1lb (400g) every two months. If they could, people made their own jam,marmalade and other preserves.

Tea 2oz (50g) per week. People over 70 years old got an extra tea allowance after1944.

Meat 4oz (100g) of either bacon or ham and one shilling & tuppence (1s.2d.)worthof meat. This would be about 1lb of beef, pork, veal or mutton depending onavailability. Tuppence (2d.) had to be spent on corned beef. A child had halfthis amount of meat. Offal was not rationed unless supplies of meat were reallyshort.



Foods not rationed during the war

Many foods, although not rationed, were in very short supply and people queued at shops to get them. Foodstuffsthat had to be imported were almost impossible to find.

Bread and Flour both wholemeal and white.

Oatmeal used for porridge and baking.

Potatoes & vegetables as much as possible were grown on allotments and in gardens.Vegetables were preserved, salted or pickled, to make them lastpast the season.

Fruit was in very limited supply especially in winter. Bananas and citrusfruits virtually disappeared along with other fruits that had to beimported.

Sausages together with liver and other offal were not rationed but they werevery hard to get hold of. People would queue at butchers to buythem when they were available.

Fish unless you lived by the sea fresh fish was only available in smallquantities. Tinned fish was available with points.

The National Flour logo from a Co-op paper bag.The distribution of flour was controlled centrally.



Rationing Timeline

On The Ration

1939 September National Register set up and identity cards issued1940 January Ration books issued

Bacon, ham, sugar and butter rationedMarch Meat rationedJuly Tea, margarine, cooking fat and cheese rationed

1941 March Jam, marmalade, treacle and syrup rationedJune Eggs rationed

Clothing rationed by points systemAugust Extra cheese rations for manual workersNovember Milk rationedDecember National dried milk added to ration

Points scheme for food set upCod liver oil and orange juice added to children’s ration

1942 February Soap, soapflakes and soap powder rationedJune Dried egg powder added to rationJuly Sweets rationed

1944 December People over 70 get extra tea ration1945 January Whalemeat available for sale, when sold it was called ‘snook’1946 July Bread rationed

Off The Ration

1948 July Bread off rationDecember Jam off ration

1952 October Tea off ration1953 February Sweets off ration

March Eggs off rationApril Cream available againSeptember Sugar off ration

1954 May Butter, cheese, margarine and cooking fats off rationJune Meat off rationNo More Rationing



Air Raids

Luton was a military objective as various Luton factories were geared towards war production. The work forceat Vauxhall expanded to 12,000 and produced over 5,000 Churchill tanks; they supplied a third of the trucksused by the Forces turning out Bedford trucks at nearly a thousand a week. Percival Aircraft (at what is nowLuton Airport) built training aircraft and de Havilland Mosquitoes.Skefco produced millions of ball, roller and thrust bearings. That Skefco was a target is certain as a Germanmap of the Skefco factory site survives. George Kent produced meters for use in aircraft, machinery for shipsand shell fuses. Hayward Tyler, Davis Gas Stove Co. and Electrolux changed over to war production.There were 900 air raid warnings in Luton, a total of 107 people killed and 500 injured. In these raids Lutonsaw the range of Nazi weapons; incendiary (fire) bombs, parachute mines, oil bombs and high explosive bombsas well as V1 and V2 missiles. While many were aimed directly at Luton it is likely that the V1 and V2s wereaimed at London and overshot their target. Public air raid shelters were built in the town centre and recreationgrounds including Wardown Park. Schools and factories had their own shelters. People built their own Andersonshelters in their gardens. However, Luton did not experience such heavy raids as other industrial towns. Fromthe higher points of the town the fires from the bombings in London could be seen clearly.The following pages detail the worst raids to hit Luton. The information is from the “Bomb Book”, a recordof Luton’s blitz compiled after the war and the Luton News’ book ‘Luton at War’ first published in 1947.

Mrs. Tebbutt and her son, Colin, outside theirAnderson shelter in Luton. These shelters wouldprotect up to six people from anything except adirect hit.


6 : Air RaidsIntroduction

© Luton Borough Council (Museum Service) 2002

20 enemy aircraft

194 bombs dropped

59 dead

60 seriously wounded

81 slightly wounded

Areas Bombed

Luton Airport, Caddington,Vauxhall MotorsChurch Cemetery Crawley Green Road - 7 bombsWindmill Rd - Hayward Tyler - 3 unexploded bombsFields adjoining Farley Farm - unexploded bombs

Streets Hit by Bombs

Cutenhoe Road/Park Street, Manor Road Recreation Ground, QueenStreet/Chequer Street, Chobham Street/Langley Street, SeymourAvenue, Strathmore Avenue, Cowper Street, Baker Street/CambridgeStreet, Harcourt Street, Albert Road, Tennyson Road, WellingtonStreet/Windsor Street/Salisbury Arms Hotel, Milton Road, RussellRise, Nos. 32, 79 & 108 Farley Avenue, Farley Green Cottages.

Borough of Luton1939 - 1945

showing area & direction of raid

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RAID 1 : Friday Aug 30th 1940 at 4.42pm

direction of raid

19© Luton Cultural Services Trust revised 2011

Maps & Documents7 : Luton’s Blitz

1 enemy aircraft

6 bombs dropped

0 casualties

Areas Bombed

Wardown Park near East LodgeHavelock RisePeople’s Park

Additional Information

Number 13 Wardown Crescent was damaged, three occupantsescaped without injury. One bomb landed in the back garden of thehouse opposite, doing no more damage to the house than breakingthe windows.



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RAID 2 : Friday Sept 20th 1940 at 4.42pm

direction of raid

20 © Luton Cultural Services Trust revised 2011




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RAID 3 : Sunday Sept 22nd 1940 at 9.14pm

1 enemy aircraft

2 parachute mines dropped

8 dead

5 seriously wounded

42 slightly wounded

Areas Bombed

Farley AvenuePark Street


Park Street Bus Station took a direct hit, 46 buses at the bus depotwere damaged, leaving 19 working buses. These had not been in thedepot at the time. Fourteen houses were also demolished in ParkStreet, leaving 100 people homeless. The bomb left a crater 38ftacross. The other bomb exploded in the air and caused no damage.

direction of raid



RAID 4 : Wednesday Sept 24th 1940 at 12.27am

6 bombs dropped(includes 2 parachute mines)

1 dead

8 wounded

Areas Bombed

Moor St/Dunstable RoadLuton Airport18 Kenilworth Roadflats at rear of Odeon Cinema20 Moor StreetEaton Green Road - Percival Aircraft


One parachute mine got stuck in the roof of Percival Aircraft Factorywithout exploding. It had to be defused by the Mines Disposal Section.A disabled man died when he was unable to escape from 18 KenilworthRoad when it was hit by an oil bomb.



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direction of raid



RAID 5 : Friday Sept 27th 1940 at 12.30am

1 enemy aircraft

1 bomb dropped

0 casualties

Areas Bombed

LMS Railway mainline, to the rear of Skefco Ball BearingsLeagrave Road - 300 yards north of LMS railway bridge over LeagraveRoad


The bomb left a crater 31ft across, and fell only 16ft from an air raidshelter. One child in an Anderson shelter less than 100ft from thecrater slept through the explosion. Houses were damaged up to aquarter of a mile away from the explosion.



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direction of raid



RAID 7 : Friday Oct 4th 1940 at 8.00pm

1 enemy aircraft

1 bomb dropped

1 seriously wounded

5 slightly wounded

Areas Bombed

Limbury Road near Coniston RoadAllotments to the rear of 50/54 Limbury Road


Number 54 Limbury Road was completely demolished and numbers48, 50 and 56 were very badly damaged. The crater was 51ft acrossand 50ft deep. The chalk blown up from the crater covered housesas far a quarter of a mile away. A piece of this bomb that was foundshowed it was at least 2ft 6ins in diameter.

direction of raid



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RAID 9 : Monday Oct 14th 1940 at 12.15pm

1 enemy aircraft

1 bomb dropped

13 dead

35 wounded

Area Bombed

Old Bedford Road/Frederick Street


One bomb hit a hat factory in Old Bedford Road at the junction withFrederick Street. Most of the casualties were the women and girlswho worked in the hat factories. The blast threw a blocking machineover house tops to land in a garden a considerable distance away. A14 year old factory boy, Tommy Walker, was found alive in the ruinsafter two and a half hours of digging.



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direction of raid



RAID 13 : Saturday Oct 26th 1940 at 2.35am

Areas Bombed

New Bedford RoadWaldeck RoadHighbury Rd and Studley Rd to Clarendon Rd and Reginald StClevedon RoadLye Trading Estate (immediately south of Wardown Park)


An incendiary (fire) bomb hit a silk warehouse on the Lye TradingEstate causing £1,000 of damage to stock. Most fires were quicklyput out by the fire guards.



N

153 bombs dropped : 150 fire bombs

1 oil bomb

2 high explosives

0 casualties

direction of raid



RAID 14 : Monday Nov 4th 1940 at 7.33pm

Areas Bombed

Dunstable Road from Dunstable Rd school to Westbourne RoadHazelbury CrescentAvondale Road (worst hit)Kenilworth RoadBeech RoadOak Road


The first bomb fell on Dunstable Road School and exploded. Onehouse in Oak Road was completely destroyed but the owner, whowas in bed, escaped unhurt. The casualty was a girl of 18.

24 bombs dropped

1 dead

2 seriously wounded

9 slightly wounded



N

direction of raid



RAID 15 : Friday Nov 15th 1940 at 11.28am

Areas Bombed

Turners RoadCrawley Green RoadBushmead Road/Old Bedford RoadRiddy Lane/Old Bedford Road


Numbers 219 and 69 Crawley Green Road were completelydemolished. A disabled man of 70 was killed when his house receiveda direct hit. A canary was rescued alive from one house having beenburied in its cage for 11 hours.

17 bombs dropped

1 dead

2 seriously wounded

2 slightly wounded



N

direction of raid



RAID 19 : Saturday Sept 5th 1942 at 11.55am

Area Bombed

Midland Road opposite LMS Railway Goods Station


Three houses were demolished in Midland Road. There had been noair raid warning. One man came home to lunch and found his housein ruins and his daughter dead. Constance Mary Housley was killedwhilst walking to the station. She was not identified until later, whena telegram was received asking why she had not returned home toDoncaster.

1 enemy aircraft

1 bomb dropped

5 dead

3 seriously wounded

15 slightly wounded



N

direction of raid



RAID 21 : Tuesday Oct 19th 1943 at 10.29pm

Areas Bombed

Waller AvenueRoman RoadLeagrave


There were 400 houses damaged at Leagrave. Four people were takento hospital having been buried alive when their house collapsed. Thelast bomb fell on the railway line and a 1 ton section of railway tracklanded 100ft away into someone’s back garden piecing the roof oftheir Anderson shelter. The railway line just south of Leagrave stationwas repaired so quickly that trains ran along it normally the next day.

1 enemy aircraft

4 bombs dropped

10 wounded

direction of raid



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RAID 23 : Wednesday Jun 21st 1944 at 3.35am

Areas Bombed

Shelley RoadSowerby AvenueWigmore Lane


The first bomb fell on land not far from the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. It escaped completely but 77 housesin Shelley Rd. were damaged by the blast. The second bomb fell in allotments near Ashcroft Rd. and SowerbyAvenue, causing blast damage to 258 houses in the area. Many of the elderly residents refused to leave.

Flying Bombs

The V1 was the first successful guided weapon. This meant that it could be launched and fly to its target withouta pilot. A V1 carried just under 2000lbs of explosive and could travel at speeds of over 300 mph, this enabledthe Germans to launch them from near the coast of France, Belgium or Holland and hit targets in the south ofEngland. Over 9,000 V1s were fired towards London in the last years of the war, but only 2,500 reached theirtarget. People in Britain called them Doodlebugs.

2 V1 flying bombs

11 slightly wounded



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site of 1st bomb

site of 2nd bomb



RAID 24 : Monday Nov 6th 1944 at 9.50am

Details of the Raid

There was no air raid warning. A V2 rocket hit the Commer Car factory canteen block in Biscot Road killing19 people, injuring 196 and damaging 1,524 houses. It caused a crater 30ft wide and 12ft deep. Numbers 77- 83 & 58 - 68 Biscot Road were destroyed and houses up to 1.5 miles away were damaged. Brick dust fromthe demolished houses reached Wardown Park. If the bomb had hit 5 minutes later the canteen would havebeen filled with people.All reporting of this raid was censored and the rumour put about that it was a works explosion and not a V2.Only after the war could it be reported.

V2 Rockets

The V2 was a development of the V1, but it was a rocket that travelled at 3000 miles per hour. A V2 contained2000lbs of explosives and had a range of 150 miles. V2s were first used against England in September1944.At that time the Allies were pushing the German troops further away from Britain but the long range of theV2s meant that they could still hit targets in England from further inland in Europe.

1 long range V2 rocket

19 dead

23 seriously wounded

173 slightly wounded



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V for Vengeance

The V in V1 & V2 stoodfor Vergeltungswaffe, theGerman for vengeance.




8 : Invasion Instructions LeafletMaps & Documents


Maps & Documents9 : Civil Defence Information Leaflet


Maps & Documents10 : Food Facts


11 : Warship Week ProgrammeMaps & Documents


12 : Wings For Victory Week CartoonMaps & Documents


13 : Salute The Soldier ProgrammeMaps & Documents


14 : War Weapons Week LeafletMaps & Documents


15 : Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This Resource Park was produced for Luton Museum Education Service by Jean Hudson, Education ServicesAssistant, Eleanor Markland, Keeper of Education and Chris Grabham, Photographic Officer. Revised by David Graves, Formal Learning Officer.All photographs in this resource pack are from the Luton News collection.

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